hutchinson



(No Model.,

M. N. HUTCHINSON. SAFETY APPARATUS FR PASSENGER AND 'I'HJEIRELEVATORSf I ,No. 259,762.l Y A Patented J-llne'ZO, 1882.

N4 PETERS Phvta-Lilbogmphur. Wnhingiun. n.0:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MERRILL N. HUTGHINSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

`SAFETY APPARATUS FOR PASSENGER AND OTHER ELEVATORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 259,762, dated June 20, 188.2.

Application filed February 13, 1882. (No model.)

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, MERRILL N. HUTGHIN- SON, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in SafetyApparatus for Passenger and other Elevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of safety attachments for passenger and other elevator cars in which eccentrics are arranged to grip upon opposite sides of a post in the event of the breaking of the hoisting-rope, whereby the eccentrics, gripping and compressing the post between them, are enabled to act with very great certainty to effect the retardation or stoppage of the downward movement of the car without tendiu gto spread or derange the framework of the elevator; and my invention-comprises a novel combination of parts, whereby 1 avoid theuse of springs in giving effect to the gripping action of the eccentrics in the event of the breaking of the hoisting-rope,A thereby providing a safety apparatus less lia-v ble to get out-of order and more positive in its effect than those hitherto constructed.

Figurel is an elevation and partial sectional view ot' an apparatus embracing my said invention. Fig. 2 is an elevation and partial sectional view, seen in a plane at right angles to Fig. 1. Figs; 3 and 4 are detailed views on a larger scale, showing certain parts of said apparatus. i l

A A are upright posts, between which the car B, which latter may be of any usual or suitable shape and structure, has its vertical movement, said movement of the car being communicated thereto by a draft rope or chain, C, which passes over the usual pulley, D, at the top of the apparatus, and which is itself operated from any suitable engine, motive power, or driving mechanism, such means of giving the requisite vertical movement to the car or cage of the elevator being well known, and consequently requiring no specific description in this connection.

Placed in suitable supporting-bearings near the top of the postsAare pulleys E, over which pass the ropes or chains F, one end of each ot' which is attached to the outer arm'of a lever, a, as indicated at a. The said levers a are pivoted at a to the top of the car or cage B, and their inner ends project over a flange or head, b, provided on the lower extremity of a sliding bolt, c, to the upper end of which is attached.

the draft rope or chain O,hercinbefore referred to.

The weight of the car or cage B is sustained by the ilange or head b of the bolt c.

The outer ends of the ropes F are attached to a counter-weight, G, preferably by means of a cross-bar, e, as represented in Fig. 2. This 'counter-weight G is less in weight than the caror cage B, so that the preponderating weight ofthe latter causes the inner arms of thelever a to be crowded up against the under side of the top of the car or cageB by the action upon the said inner arms of said levers of the flangeV or head b, and holds against the (to a certain extent) countervailingpressure exerted by the counter-weight. Attached to the side ot' the car or cage B are, as represented in Figs. l and 2', two vertical series of eccentric disks, H, one

series upon each side of each of vthe posts A, as represented in Fig. 1. rI hese eccentric disks are pivoted, as shown at f, to the adjacent sides of the car or cage B, and the disks of each series are connected by a rope or chain, I, the twovropes of each series of said disks connecting at top to a cross-piece, g, which, by means of a link or yoke, h, is suspended from ahook, z', txed upon the adjacent one of the ropes F. The arrangement of the eccentric disks H is such that, when swung inward and upward, each vertical post A will be gripped, as indi. cated in Fig. 4, between the two vertical series of said disks adjacent thereto, and the pressure being continued to turn said disks in the saine direction, it follows that the grip or hold upon the post will be proportionally increased.

Such being the construction and relative arrangement of the parts, their operation is as follows: So long as the draft of the rope or chain O is continued, the flange or head b of the bolt c will hold the inner arms of the levers a, upward against the top of the car or cage, thereby keeping the outer arms of the said levers a depressed, and consequently holding the ropes F, so to speak, downward to an extent sufficient to keep the eccentrics H outward out of contact with their adjacent posts A; but when for any reason the draft ofthe rope or chain C is destroyed-as, for example, by the parting or fracture thereof-theinner arms of the levers a are released, whereupon the counter-weight G draws upward the outer arms IOO t of the said lever, and consequently llfts the use of springs 1s uncertain and lmreliablc,and

ropes F longitudinally with reference to the car or cage B, which insures a drai't upon the yoke h and the ropes I, this in its turn turning the eccentric disks II inward and upward to grip the adjacent post A between them, as hereinbet'ore explained,thisgripping ofthe post between them, as represented in Fig. 4, being maintained and increased by their frictional contact after they have once been pressed against the surfaces ot' the said posts, the entire weight of the car in such case acting to continue and increase the pressure of the peripheries of the said disks H against the said posts, and thereby eft'ectually securing the object required.

It is to bc observed that the arrangement and combination ot parts hereinbefore described as applied at one side of the car must of course be duplicated at the other, the car being provided at each of its two opposite sides with a pair of the disks H and a xed post arranged between each pair.

I donot claim actuatingoppositely-arranged disks in relation to an intermediate post by means of a spring, as shown in the patents of Atwater, dated December 21, 1880; Opperman and Block, dated January 19,1875,and of Herron, dated April 22, 1873, inasmuch as the not to be depended upon for any length ot' time, it being a well-known fact in mechanics that springs, when kept continually under compression, as is necessarily the case when the same are used for actuating the safety appliances of elevators, lose in time their elasticity and become comparatively inert, and hence constitutca source ofdangerinstead ofameans of safety,inasmuch as they lead to a false sense of security; but

What I do claim as my invention is- The herein-described oppositely arranged eccentrics H, attached to the car or cage B, the post A, arranged between said eccentrics H, the lever a, the rope F, the counter-Weight G, and means, substantially as described, for connecting the rope F with the oppositely-arranged eccentric H, so that in the event ofthe breaking of the hoisting-rope the counterweight will hasten and promote the gripping and compressing action ot the eccentrics upon the post between them, all substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

MERRILL N. HUTCII INSON.

Witnesses:

ROBERT W. MATTHEWS, THOMAS E. CnossMAN. 

